You may not know the name Jim Peterik, but chances are, you know his music. In a career that now spans four decades, Peterik has been responsible for writing some of the biggest hits of the ‘70s and ‘80s. In addition, he has written with, performed with, and produced an enormous list of musicians that spans many genres.

Jim Peterik was born in Berwyn, Illinois in 1950. Taking to music at an early age, he formed the band that would later become The Ides of March while still a student at the University of Illinois. That band hit the big time quickly, scoring a number-two smash with “Vehicle” in 1970. Peterik wrote and sung lead on the tune, which recalled another popular band of the era, Blood, Sweat & Tears, with its mixture of hard rock and horns. The Ides had a couple of other minor hits before breaking up.

For the remainder of the 1970s, Peterik popped up here and there, working with Chicago-based soul singer Willie Henderson and releasing his debut solo album, Don’t Fight the Feeling, in 1976. His next major project wouldn’t get underway, however, until the end of the decade. In 1978, Peterik and guitarist Frankie Sullivan formed the band Survivor. Rounded out by lead vocalist Dave Bickler, bassist Dennis Johnson and drummer Gary Smith, the quintet released their self-titled debut a year later. While the late '70s saw a lot of experimentation in music, Survivor chose the straight-and-narrow, adhering to a more mainstream, classic rock sound. They may not have shaken the world up the way The Sex Pistols did, but there is no denying that they did what they did well.

Survivor’s debut album wasn’t a huge hit but it did put the band on the map. Johnson and Smith were quickly replaced by bassist Stephan Ellis and drummer Marc Droubay, respectively. This lineup released the band’s sophomore set, Premonition, in 1981. It still didn’t make Survivor a household name, but it sold moderately well and produced a minor hit in “Poor Man’s Son.”

Everything changed with the release of the band’s third album, Eye of the Tiger, in 1982. Commissioned by Sylvester Stallone himself to write the theme for Rocky III, Peterik and Frankie Sullivan came up with the title track. To call “Eye of the Tiger” a hit would be like calling Michael Jordan a good basketball player. The song topped the charts for an astounding seven weeks, won a Grammy award and became the biggest single of 1982. The album itself went all the way to number-two and spawned a second hit in “American Heartbeat.”

Strangely, Survivor’s next album, Caught in the Game, didn’t fare very well. Vocalist Bickler left the band around this time and was replaced by former Cobra singer Jimi Jamison. With Jamison handling lead vocals, Survivor returned the following year with Vital Signs. This album restored them to the public eye and was quite possibly their defining moment. The disc produced three big hits: “High on You,” “I Can’t Hold Back” and “The Search is Over.” If you were young and living in suburban America during the summer of ’84, Vital Signs was the soundtrack to your life.

Although Survivor released two more albums and had a few more hits, they never again scaled the heights they’d reached in the mid-‘80s. The band effectively called it quits in 1988. But Peterik has remained remarkably busy over the past two decades or so. Still based in the Windy City, he has produced albums and written songs with a multitude of artists, in genres ranging from R&B to country to hair-metal. He even collaborated with Brian Wilson on the song “Dream Angel” in 1998. He still plays with both Survivor and The Ides of March from time to time and spearheads the World Stage project, an ongoing live music collective that also includes members of .38 Special, Night Ranger and REO Speedwagon. And in 2006, Peterik released his first solo effort in 30 years, Above the Storm.

I recently caught up with Jim Peterik while he was on holiday – one of the rare times, it seems, when he wasn’t in a recording studio. What follows are excerpts from our conversation.


What are you up to these days musically? Are you still performing with either The Ides of March or Survivor? And what is the status of your ongoing World Stage project?

The Ides are busier than ever. We’re doing about 20 shows this summer. Mostly fairs and fests but some casinos too. The show rocks, combining Ides staples like “Vehicle” and “LA Goodbye” with big brass arrangements of songs I've written for other bands. We are just completing our first studio album in quite some time called Keep Rocking.

World Stage has just taped the PBS special Soundstage. lt will be a pledge drive in the fall with a DVD. It features the Ides, Night Ranger, [Lynyrd] Skynyrd. Ray Parker Jr., Martha Davis [and] Jimi Jamison and Dave Bickler, [both] formerly singers with Survivor. Wow, what a night.

I am [also] releasing my first smooth jazz CD on August 22. It is called Jim Peterik's Lifeforce. It features myself and Lisa McClowry on vocals. We are doing two shows so far as Lifeforce: August 22 [at the] Beverly Arts Center in Chicago and September 6 as a part of the Kettle Moraine jazz fest.


Tell me what it was like coming up in the Chicago music scene during the 1960s.
These were exciting and vital times. A healthy sense of competition existed between the local bands to be the best, to have the biggest fan base, the loudest cheers, the best songs and the biggest hits. Yet through it all, there was a sense of respect between the bands: the Ides of March, The Cryan Shames, The Shadows of Knight., The Mauds, Buckinghams, Saturday’s Children [and] on and on. We were all playing the same teen club circuit.


Re-reading your bio just now, it was even more diverse than I realized. Does working in various genres keep the art of songwriting fresh for you? And do you have a favorite genre or are all of them equally satisfying?
I love the variety. Different writing styles is like working different muscles. When one gets tired, it’s nice to make a switch for a while. [But] I think rock will always be my fallback.

Tell me about the formation of your second major band, Survivor, in the late ‘70s. They eschewed a lot of the experimentation that was going on at the time in favor of a more traditional classic rock sound.
We kind of went for the mainstream. We wanted to be successful and strove for broad appeal not unlike Foreigner or Boston. But we always tried to keep the integrity high


You co-wrote the Survivor song “Eye of the Tiger,” which was featured in the film Rocky III and which was probably the most popular song of 1982. You’d certainly had success before that but “Eye of the Tiger” took it to another level. What was it like?
It is still surreal to me. [Back] then, when we were slogging on the road opening for REO [Speedwagon] in bad hotels, we had no idea of our significance at the time. It took a while for it to sink in.


Likewise, Survivor’s Vital Signs defined the summer of 1984 for a lot of people. Tell me about making that album or memories of any of those particular songs that you have.
That was my favorite record. I knew it was great when it was going down, I kept telling our manager, "Order the Porsche!" The energy felt right. Me and Frankie [Sullivan] hit our stride as a writing team and we landed a fresh new voice and face in Jimi Jamison.

What was it like working with Brian Wilson?
It was a dream come true and again, a bit surreal to be bouncing ideas back and forth with one of my all-time heroes. Once we got comfortable, it really clicked but it wasn’t until we were sitting in the green room at the Letterman show that he actually called me by name!

Is there anyone you haven’t collaborated with yet that you would really like to work with?
Paul McCartney, Elton John and Burt Bacharach. Is that too much to ask?

 

-Dave Steinfeld